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Chapter 8 of Another Place in Time has been posted. This chapter was a definite "the plot thickens" addition. We're getting into the meat of the story now.
On another note - muses are fickle things. After several years of what pretty much amounted to writer's block, my muse is acting as though it's on steroids. I'm already thinking about what comes after Another Place in Time, although that story is no more than 30-40% complete as of Chapter 8. As I said in my last blog, I do have a backlog. I have about two and a half chapters more that are written. But over the past week or so, my attention seems to have been focused on no fewer than three (3!) other projects. I want to point out, though, that the same thing happened to me on at least two occasions when I was putting together Lightning in a Bottle.
Just to throw this out there - here are the three potential stories:
-A spin-off from Another Place in Time featuring an interesting character (hint: she's been introduced already) who very likely will not be developed well enough within the frame of APIT. This story will probably be a shorter one, though I could lengthen it if I want.
-A story set about 200 years in the future, focusing on a couple of protagonists who are members of a band - a throwback band that features music from the late 20th century. Besides musicians, they are also private investigators/spies. Think something vaguely similar to a future version of Lightning in a Bottle, but with important differences, with a side of mystery. This will be a shorter story, but I aim to make it the first book in a series. (I almost started this one before APIT, but switched over at the last minute.)
-Another post-apoc story, but with a twist I haven't seen before (which I guess doesn't mean it hasn't been attempted). This one will be quite unlike APIT - non-violent and focusing on a slow-burn romance.
With all three of these potential stories, I already have a chapter or two written. Which one will I go to when I'm done with APIT? Depends on my mood at the time.
But for now, it's full speed ahead with APIT.
I just changed the Sex Contents setting in Another Place in Time from Minimal Sex to Some Sex. As I make my way through the story, my muse seems to be directing me to make it just a tad "spicier" than I had originally intended. :)
Chapter 7 should be up shortly. Writing-wise, I still have somewhat of a backlog; I'm at the start of chapter 11. So, at least for the short term, I should be able to maintain my chapter-a-week posting schedule.
I've been trying to stick to a schedule of posting each new chapter of APIT on Mondays, but Chapter 4 will be delayed by a few days. I need to go back and make a small change to be consistent with events in a later chapter. I'll finish writing the chapter I'm currently working on, and then go back and make the change.
Between now and mid-April, I might be hard-pressed to maintain a steady output of one chapter per week, as real life will keep me more occupied than usual. We'll see how it goes.
One of the things about writing a story like this one is the amount of world-building that needs to be done up front. That part of the story will conclude in Chapter 4. Starting with Chapter 5, the plot will start to kick in.
At this point, I have a pretty good feel for how the story will proceed and ultimately conclude. The story should end up being about 25 chapters long.
As I said in the blog post of a few days ago, I have a new story underway, titled "Another Place In Time". It's a time travel story with a few twists - it involves time travel to a dystopian future, and has a female protagonist. Her name is Abby Blevins, she's twenty-five years old, and she's stuck in a rut in her current life.
I am a couple of weeks away from the point where I'll begin to post chapters. However, as a teaser, I've decided to go ahead and post the prologue now.
To avoid giving away plot developments, I will add a few codes as the story progresses. However, you can be assured that there will be no underage sexual activity, no MM erotic scenes, no incest, and no S&M. Those tenets will likely apply to any story I write.
On another note, it's been about ten years (10!) since I posted any new content. Is that a record? (I'm sure it's not)
Enjoy!
When it comes to technology, I am what is known as a late adopter. With regard to new innovations, I’m always one of the last people I know to try them out. I have an eight-year-old laptop which suits my purposes just fine, and I have no desire to trade it in for something with all of the latest bells and whistles. Same goes for my five-year-old smart phone. And don’t even get me started about TV’s.
However, I recently wandered down the rabbit hole known as artificial intelligence – specifically, the generation of images using AI. I quickly discovered that AI would be a great tool to enhance my writing experience. One of the first projects I undertook was the creation of AI-generated covers for Lightning in a Bottle and An Unwanted Alias. If you like, you can have a look at them – I’ve uploaded them to the stories.
I also got quite a bit of enjoyment from generating images of the characters in my stories – exactly as I see them in my mind - bringing them to life in yet another way. (Who knows – maybe at some point I’ll decide to share those as well.)
Which brings me to the point of this post. Recently, artificial intelligence gave a big boost to my writing in another way. In my last blog post, I mentioned that I was working on a detective-type story set in the future. I also had a partially written post-apocalyptic story that I felt was too complex, which had caused me to transfer it to the back burner.
Enter AI – or in this case, ChatGPT. On a whim, I decided to upload that second story, the complex post-apoc tale, to ChatGPT and asked it for feedback. I had to upload each chapter (there were four of them, plus a prologue) one by one. I was astonished at the quality of the feedback I received. Not only did that feedback cause my muse to kick back in, it also gave me a couple of excellent ideas for driving the story forward. I’ve now switched gears again and am working diligently on that post-apoc story. I now know exactly where I want to take that story and have a pretty good grasp on how to get there.
I’ve decided that the title of the story will be “Another Place In Time”. In an earlier blog post, I said that I would not post any chapters of a new story until that story was complete. However, I’ve re-thought that. I’ve discovered that constant feedback – whether from ChatGPT or from readers – is a crucial factor which drives my muse. Reader feedback – both positive and negative – plus the occasional collaborations on a few scenes, is what kept me motivated and focused over the two years it took me to create Lightning in a Bottle.
I anticipate this story to be quite a bit shorter than LIAB – I really can’t imagine generating an epic of that length again. However, it should be longer than An Unwanted Alias. I’m figuring something in the range of 25 to 30 chapters. Right now, I’m wrapping up Chapter 5. I figure that when I get into Chapter 7, I’ll start posting chapters to the site. I should have enough of a backlog by then. So, it shouldn’t be too much longer.
As I’m sure you all have, I’ve read quite a bit of speculation that artificial intelligence might bring about the end of civilization. But in this case, for this writer, it provided invaluable assistance.
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